


Rose Tyler, Savior of the World

by FyrdracaElfsciene



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-12 05:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1182569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyrdracaElfsciene/pseuds/FyrdracaElfsciene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose survived Doomsday, but only just. Any journey could be her last, the Doctor realizes; he decides to leave her behind so she will live. One year later to the week, he shows Martha Jones a picture of Rose. But why does she recognize her and why is she sorry? And above all else, nothing is what it seems. Ten/Rose</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Darkness

Martha Jones was long accustomed to hearing praises of Rose from the Doctor. Sometimes it felt as if Rose was a Goddess, and the Doctor was a priest devoted to his religion. Martha couldn't help but be jealous of Rose; she had a handsome, brilliant man pining after her even when she was long since gone. How many people could say that?

Martha certainly couldn't. And she was right in front of the Doctor every single bloody day for crying out loud! And he didn't seem to care much for her at all except for as another randomized sentient biped in need of constant saving. Martha had never been a drama queen, and she'd be damned if she were one, but constantly being ignored was starting to wear on her self control. How long until she utterly snapped?

Martha sighed, glancing between the two ensembles that she was debating on. One was black jeans with a red tank top and a black leather jacket and the other was faded blue jeans, a purple tank top, and her red leather jacket. She frowned, staring at them both. She couldn't decide. She'd already done her make-up and twisted her hair into a clip, but she couldn't decide on the clothes. She held the latter one up to herself, and the TARDIS hummed. Martha slipped on the outfit the TARDIS preferred.

That was something else that Martha couldn't understand: how could a ship be sentient? She obviously was sentient; she gave input on both her and the Doctor's everyday lives. But that was probably just an Artificial Intelligence, not an actual living being. It was a ship. Yet the Doctor seemed to be as in love with his TARDIS has he was with Rose. It was bloody infuriating, in Martha's opinion.

Martha sighed, shaking her head. She knew the Doctor just needed someone to admire him, not be in love with him, but it was impossible not to love him or be jealous of Rose. She couldn't stop herself from fancying him, even though it seemed at times that the only reason she was on the TARDIS was to stop the Doctor when he went too far.

Maybe today Martha could convince the Doctor to go somewhere instead of hang around the Vortex. On the first day they had been in the vortex, Martha had figured they would be there only for the day at mot. So when the Doctor had said something about a 'one year anniversary' she could not say that she had cared one way or another. On day number seven, however, she was going stir crazy. It wasn't as if there wasn't stuff to keep her busy — new rooms, mini projects, etc, but Martha wanted to go places. Hell, before they were stranded in the vortex, they were stranded in 1969. She needed to go someplace.

Martha was going to go find the Doctor, she decided. And while Martha had troubles believing the ship was actually sentient and not an AI, she knew that she could find something on the ship just by thinking about it because the ship would direct her to it. Using that lovely train of logic, Martha thought of the Doctor and waited for the obligatory map to appear in her head. It did, and she sighed in affectionate exasperation when she saw the Doctor's location. The Library. Go figure. Of course he'd be there. She shook her head and stomped off to the Library.

"Doctor!" she called from the entryway into the Library. She still found it astounding how many books were in there. The only way there could be more would be if there was a planet of books. It was truly incredible how many books someone like the Doctor could collect in 900 plus years. There was no response to her call, so she tried again. "Doctor!"

Martha heard a weird sound coming from one of the couches. No, it wasn't the couch, she realized. It was a soft sniffing. "Doctor?" she asked again, her voice more concerned than demanding. Martha hesitantly inched towards the leather sofa and peered over the top.

Sprawled on the cushions was the Doctor, tears parading down his cheeks, his hands clutching a framed picture as if it were the only thing in the multiverse with any value at all.

Martha's heart clenched even as it broke for the poor Time Lord. He was broken over a ghost! And yet, he looked so pathetic. "Doctor?" Martha whispered, trying to reach him.

The Doctor glanced up at her, his eyes wide, pink, and teary, his hair rumpled until spiky no longer described it. Martha rested her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. Although Martha already knew the answer before the question slipped from her lips, Martha asked, "Is that picture of Rose?"

The Doctor nodded. He seemed almost like patheticness incarnate. Tears streamed from his eyes as he stared up Martha. Finally, Martha plucked up enough courage to ask a very important question. "May I see the picture?"

The Doctor cradled the picture to his chest for a moment longer before wordlessly nodding and handing the picture to Martha. Martha gently took the photo from him. She gasped, covering her mouth with her free hands. "Oh, my God! Doctor! I am so, so sorry!" Martha suddenly found it impossible to be jealous. She knew of that woman from her life before the Doctor as well. And with what that woman had done for the world, there was absolutely no way she could envy that woman. And if that's what it meant to be loved by the Doctor, she didn't want that either. Her eye were a tad tearful.

The Doctor had been staring at Martha every since she had taken the picture. His eyes were blazing in what most people would identify as anger. Martha was not most people; she knew the Doctor well enough to know the expression was of desolation, aching pain, and horrible melancholy.

Martha carefully drew the Doctor into a hug. At first, the Doctor resisted and attempted to push her away. Martha refused to let go. Martha took a deep breath, terrified of how the Doctor would react after her next words. Leaning forward, her breath catching in her lungs, Martha whispered, "She saved the world, Doctor. She died saving the world."

She felt the Doctor heave in a deep breath. He tried to extricate himself from Martha's grasp so that he could mourn the woman he loved in private. Martha endured, maintaining her grasp on the Doctor even as he hit her, punched her, and kicked her. Eventually, he gave up and sobbed uncontrollably, cries wracking his was relieved, seeing as she had already collected too many bruises for her liking.

Martha shook her head at the situation. The Doctor did not move, despite Martha's shaking of her head, and she was relieved, even as the Doctor was sobbing. Earlier today, she would have never done this. She would have been too jealous. And here and now, she was comforting the Doctor over Rose's death. How times changed so suddenly.

When the Doctor's sobs softened just a slight bit, the Doctor managed to speak. "Was she alone when- when she- when she- you know?" His voice cracked several times and was hoarse from his emotional agony. To Martha, it looked like he wanted to commit suicide in the most painful way he could but just didn't know how.

Martha carefully unwrapped her arms from around the Doctor, who stared at her, his eyes red and puffy. The way he looked at her almost confirmed her assessment. Martha pursed her lips , she shook her head to answer the question. Without warning, the Doctor glared at Martha. Martha took this to mean he wanted further information. And that probably was the case. Martha added to her silent answer, "A man called Captain Jack Harkness and his team, Torchwood Three, tried to stop her. They were there." Martha glanced down at the Doctor, her head tilted slightly to one side. "Do you know them?"

The Doctor bit her lip and nodded. "He travelled with me and Rose, back in the old days." The Doctor replied, the faintest of a smile tracing his lips. Martha felt a little better seeing the smile; the shame and sorrow on the hyper man's face was more than a little distressing. Martha nodded, deciding whether or not they should visit Torchwood.

"We should visit them, you know. We could probably get the footage there and get their side of the story," Martha prodded, carefully gauging the Doctor's reaction. Of course, the Doctor just stared back at her like a lost puppy. Martha opened her mouth and raised her eyebrows, imploring him to make a decision.

After a minute or so, the Doctor stood up and nodded his head in agreement. He walked down the hallway to the console room, Martha following him.

With the not-quite precision that comes with the Doctor flying the TARDIS, the TARDIS was piloted to the Torchwood hub, at least, where the ship claimed the Hub was. Indeed, the ship was quite right, too. Of course, the Doctor's strained emotions made for an even bumpier flight than usual. Martha decided that she did not appreciate that, but she understood, so she decided not to comment. She did, however, cling onto the TARDIS for dear life.

The TARDIS materializes in Torchwood. The Doctor stepped out, closely followed by an apprehensive Martha. Both were surprised with what greeted them in the Hub. The man in front was Jack, Martha remembered from the footage. He was still wearing that bloody World War Two coat. And, Martha could tell, Jack was probably the epitome of furious; his team did not seem particularly less ireful. The Asian's woman's lips were pinched into a thin line. The other woman was scowling, fingering a gun. The other man, the one wearing a suit, was holding a tray with teas on it. From the way he was carrying himself, it was clear to Martha that he too was ticked. Martha wondered if they blamed Rose's death on the Doctor or if they were angry for another reason. Either way, Martha prayed that she hadn't upset them in her future.

"Doctor," Jack growled, his eyes alight in pure hatred. The Doctor flinched, looking at anyone or anything other than Jack. Jack's glare did not lessen.

"Captain," the Doctor returned in a drawl similar to Jack's own, except that the emotions contained within were different. The Doctor's voice betrayed that he'd been crying; granted, his eyes did that just as well.

"You betrayed me. . . and Rose," Jack accused, his voice almost loud enough to be considered a shout. The Doctor flinched mightily at Jack's words, a lone tear trailing down his cheek. Martha could tell that more threatened to follow suit. Martha placed her hand on the Doctor's arm to let him know that not everyone and thing were against him. The Doctor glanced over at her gracefully.

When the Doctor finally spoke, he could speak on on the subject matter more commonly known as Jack. "I couldn't help it! You're wrong, Jack!" The entire Torchwood Team laughed a little at that remark. "You're a fixed point in time; that's never meant to happen."

Jack, understandably, wanted to know what that meant. "Is that why I can't die?! The last thing I remembered, back when I was mortal, was being faced by three Daleks, and then I was ankle deep in Dalek dust. What happened?"

The Doctor bit his lip. He almost couldn't form the word necessary to reply. "Rose." He could hardly be heard, but everyone knew exactly what he had said. Jack gaped at the Doctor. "She. . .she absorbed the power of the Time Vortex, atomized all the Daleks, and brought you back. She just lost control of the power. The last act of the Time War was life." His voice could nearly have been described as nostalgic. The Doctor frowned, and Martha knew he was thinking. "How did you first realize you couldn't die?"

Jack grimaced, and his team shared a few glances. "I had my Vortex Manipulator and programmed it for the 21st century. It went wrong and I landed in the nineteenth century. I took a shot to the heart, and then I woke up. Thought that was a little strange , but then it never stopped." Martha was surprised at Jack's clinical tone, to say the least. Her eyebrows leapt up her face, but she wisely kept her mouth shut.

The Doctor winced, shifting a little guiltily. "Jack, I'm sorry. Truly am, but everything in me screams against you."

Jack laughed hollowly, not really sure what to think. Finally Jack managed to speak, wearing a wry expression. "What you're saying is that you're prejudiced?" Jack's voice dripped with sarcasm. Then he resumed his disgusted glare at the Doctor. "What about Rose? What demented reason do you think you have for what you did to her?!"

The Doctor opened his mouth, tears spilling from his eyes. The Doctor backed against the TARDIS and sunk to the ground. Martha knew instantly that he blamed himself for Rose's death, and all of the others also blamed him. And it was really only him and Rose responsible for Rose's death. And it was killing the Doctor. Literally, probably.

"She gave up everything for me, Jack. Everything! Her own family!" the Doctor exclaimed his voice entirely too raw for anyone's liking, and it was clear to the others in that moment that he hated himself for what he did to her.

At the look on Jack's face, Martha could tell that he did not find the Doctor a piteous creature. Jack apparently found the Doctor a hideous one instead. "So you abandon her as if her sacrifice meant nothing to you?!" Jack bared his teeth in a snarl.

"I can't have someone willing to give up all that for me!" The Doctor's protest was weak, and Martha knew that he knew it too. Yet, it was also all the Doctor had. The Doctor raised his eyes to meet Jack's, begging for mercy and forgiveness.

Martha could tell Jack understood, as recognition flared in the immortal's eyes. This did not, however, relieve any of the anger from his gaze. Almost taunting, Jack exclaimed, "You don't think you deserved her!" Jack shook his head in what Martha thought was a mixture of disdain and sadness.

The Doctor barely hesitated before nodding.

When Martha glanced anew between the two men, she realized that she had forgotten the Torchwood Team. She watched them for a moment, deciding that they too had probably forgotten both each other's and her existence while watching.

Finally, Jack relented his assault. "I suppose you'll want to see the footage of her death?"

Unable to form words, the Doctor nodded. Martha grimaced, as she had watched when the footage had first been released. "Tosh, would you pull up the footage from the camera? The one we didn't release to the public?" Martha's eyebrows would have been floating above her head, had they been able.

Tosh nodded, and everyone followed her to her computer. Within seconds of being at the laptop, she had pulled the footage, which was of better quality than the one Martha had seen before, though, this one was also slightly blurry. Judging by the Doctor's face, it may as well have been in perfect clarity. The Doctor's breath caught as he looked at the image. Rose was on the screen. Written on the Doctor's face was a look of surprise. Had Rose not always been so sad? If that was the case, and Martha was now sure it was, the Doctor blamed himself.

On the video, Rose was stooped down next to a young child, who was trembling in his whispered something to the boy, who then nodded and ran. Rose turned towards the camera, recognition in her eyes, as if she knew that someone would watch it. A moment later, a Dalek was visible on the screen. Rose stared at the Dalek, a placid firmness in her gaze, the type the sane did not readily possess.

"EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek's despicable voice was easily heard as it rang through both rooms, despite the camera's questionable microphone from which it emanated in one room. Rose failed to react. The bolt produced by the Dalek just ran down Rose's body into the floor. Rose smirked, a derisive laugh slipping from her mouth.

She dragged a gun from her pocket and aimed it at her own head. "My life force in my body is keeping you alive, yeah? Well, the Doctor made me feel like nothing. And I s'pose I am nothing, but I can still save the Earth!"

She pulled the trigger and the gun fired. Their was a sickening crack. There was a small crackle, but it was covered by the resounding sound of the gunshot. Blood trickled down from Rose's head as she collapsed, dead. The Dalek's eyestalk's light faded to black. The Dalek, too, was dead.

A sob wracked the Doctor as he sank to his knees in despair. His hands hit the floor with an audible thud. He didn't pay any further attention to the video, even though it was the part containing Torchwood. The Doctor just sat there, stunned. Martha had never seen the Doctor as pathetic as he'd been this last day. Or few days, she supposed.

When the Doctor was able to form words, his voice was a whisper only. "She doesn't know how mistaken she was! She's worth more than this entire bloody planet!" By the end of his rant, the Doctor was shouting. Everyone recoiled, even Martha. The Doctor banged his fists on his thighs. When he had apparently calmed down ever so slightly, the Doctor calmly stated, "God, I love her so much."

From its secret place in the vent, a minute little arachnid robot reported this turn of events to its mistress.


	2. Night

The spiderbot's owner raised her eyebrows at the news. She frowned, her eyes widening in confusion at her metallic minion's transmission of the scene. She let out a slow breath, a tear forming in her eye. She could not believe what her robot was saying, but at the same time, she did. And she was hurt by it.

How could the Doctor say that now? He had abandoned her. She had come back to him. She had left everything behind for him, but he had abandoned her right then. How could he claim that he loved her when he had hurt her this much? The tear that had formed in her eye slid down her cheek, and she flared her nostrils and gritted her teeth. She took a deep breath, but she expended it in a hiss before her breath caught, and she cried.

At long last, she rose to her two feet. She slammed her fist into the desk, almost grinning at the pain because it allowed her some feeling other than emotional pain, sadness, and anger. She turned away from the monitor and strode to her door.

The sun stung her eyes, and it made the tears on her face feel hotter, more like they were born of anger than of pain. She choked back a sob. How could the Doctor beg to mercy after what he had driven her to? How could he claim to love a woman whom he had pushed away whose heart and soul he had broken? How could he claim to care for her more than the world when he had done this to her?

With renewed fervor, Rose, for that was the woman's identity, strode towards the Roald Dahl Pass. She sniffed when she arrived, nostalgia and pain flooding her eyes not like water, but fire. She pulled out her mobile and called the Doctor, her heart thumping in her chest.

The Doctor answered his phone. When he spoke, his voice was filled with sadness, confusion, and hurt. She almost laughed at the irony in that, but she was not in a good enough mood. "Hi?"

"Hello," Rose returned, her voice almost monotone as she tried to suppress her emotions. Taking a deep breath, Rose wiped away her tears, not caring about the mascara that smeared on her cheeks and hands. She was torn between the hurt in her heart at what he had done and the hope that the Doctor could love her. "Doctor. Did you miss me?"

There was a choked sob on the other end as the Doctor heard the emotional detach in Rose's voice. The Doctor's sobs were almost enough to cause more tears to drip from Rose's eyes, despite the hard facade she had created to protect her own self and soul.

When she faced the Daleks, Rose had known that she wouldn't die, but she didn't truly want to keep on living either. With absolutely nothing left for her, there was nothing reason for her to live. She had wanted this one last chance to see the Doctor though, and she would take it. She needed him to know exactly what he had done.

The Doctor nodded before he choked out the word "yes". Rose smiled slightly at that fact, and the expression felt strange on her face. She hadn't smiled in years, and now she had the frown lines to prove it. It was strange, and it made her ache for times past.

Sighing heavily, Rose made up her mind to act on both her greatest desire and her worst fear. "Meet me at the Roald Dahl Pass alone." She wiped another tear from her face, irritated that she could keep the tears from falling. She flipped the phone shut and bit her lip, leaning against the Pass despite the fact she would get soaked.

Rose waited, her heart pounding against her chest, for the Doctor to come. She held her breath and bit her lips, attempting to make her tears stop. A moment later, the Doctor came up on the platform, which he had most likely been instructed to do by Jack.

"Hello," Rose whispered, her voice shaking. She bit her lip. She took a deep breath, trying to determine what she should say next. Should she forgive him like she wanted to, or should she try to make him understand the consequences of his own actions?

"Hello," the Doctor returned, his eyes wide. He ran his fingers through his hair, just like he had when she was still his companion. Rose almost managed a smile, but then, that would make her seem a bit happier than she actually was. She did not smile, and she didn't even grimace.

ϑϾ

Martha, Jack, Tosh, Owen (who had walked in a moment sooner), and Gwen all watched the screen of Tosh's computer as the Doctor went to meet Rose. Martha held her breath. She hoped that his would go well and that the Doctor's hearts would not be broken. She may have recently gotten over her crush, but that did not mean that she didn't care about him. She would defend him to the last, and she had a feeling this Jack would too. Martha was not entirely sure whether or not the members of Jack's team would be on the Doctor's side or Rose's side.

The Doctor and the woman that Martha knew to be Rose stood facing one another, and it seemed the tension between the pair could be felt by nigh the entire universe. Martha shivered. Whatever was going on there did not look like it would be pretty. She could sense the people next to her shifting, and she was almost positive that there were now some hands on guns. Martha grimace. The Doctor's profound hatred of guns had rubbed off on her, after all, and she wasn't entirely sure whom the Torchwood people were thinking of using them on.

ϑϾ

Rose hesitated a moment before she continued the conversation. "Doctor." It wasn't much, but as she was still figuring out what to do, saying his name with frost in her voice was her only course of action.

The Doctor swallowed. To hear his name spoken in such a way by the woman he loved was almost too much for him to bear. "Rose!" He couldn't tell if the tremor in his voice was from nervousness or excitement at seeing Rose again, even if she was a lot different.

"You left me, Doctor, after I gave up all my family so I could be with you," Rose hissed, finally making up her mind on what course of action to take. Rose put her hands on the Doctor's shoulders, willing him to look into her eyes and see the pain that lay there. The Doctor looked down at her feet, his vision slightly clouded by tears.

"You did all that, yes, but you weren't safe. I almost lost you," the Doctor whispered, finally meeting Rose's gaze, hoping that she would understand. He scratched the back of his neck.

"You lost me anyway," Rose snapped, her glare from before returning. She bit her lip, and she felt a tear of anger and sadness forming in her eyes. "You abandoned me on Earth after you said you wouldn't. You left me when I left my family to be with you! And that sacrifice was nothing to you, Doctor?" Her cheeks had turned a ruddy color, and she clutched the Doctor's shoulders in her hands as if he would vanish when she let go.

"You almost died. No, well, not exactly, you would have been sucked into the Void! Hell, some people call it! What if that or something worse had happened?! Do you think I could have lived with that?!" the Doctor shouted, his pale cheeks turning even whiter as he realized exactly how terrible he had made his Rose feel. His eyes darkened slightly.

"If I had gotten to stay with you one second longer, it would have been worth it. I tried to end it, y'know, with the Daleks. But it didn't work; I missed the mark by just a little, and hit hit my skull and such but left me alive. I fell into a coma, and then some blokes found me and got me back on my feet. The Daleks were gone and all, but I wasn't. I felt dead. May as well have died, but I didn't. I had to hope I'd one day see you again, Doctor," Rose whispered, one of her hands floating up to the Doctor's cheek. Tears slid down her face, warming her face where they touched.

There was moisture on her thumb, suddenly, as a tear fell down the Doctor's cheek. "Rose." The Doctor's voice was hoarse, and his sorrow was audible. He could hear Rose's sorrow and anger, and whatever hatred he had possessed for himself before was a molehill compared to the mountain it was now. "Please. . .forgive me?"

Rose nodded slightly and grimaced. "Yes, I forgive you, Doctor." She pulled a gun from her pocket and held it out to him in a way that made it look like she might shoot him. "But please, for the future, keep in mind that you may as well have shot out my soul with this here gun." She stared at him, cocking her head.

ϑϾ

Martha felt the people around her tense, and she herself was nowhere near calm. They had quickly discovered that something was blocking the sound, and now it looked as if Rose were about to shoot the Doctor. Martha flinched; Jack cursed, and the Torchwood team did some mixture of the two. How could the woman who had been so broken over the Doctor's absence now be threatening to kill him?! It didn't add up in any of their minds, but there it was playing out in front of them.

Owen's hand tightened on his gun. "What's he doing to her?!" He narrowed his eyes, and Jack tried to quell his anger by placing his hand on Owen's shoulder. It had been so long, and Jack couldn't let the anger of his friend kill another friend. Owen scowled, and turned, walking out of the Hub.

Owen ran, holding his gun out in front of him. It took him very little time to reach where the Doctor and Rose were, but he was panting nonetheless. When he arrived, he observed the scene for only a few seconds. Both Rose and the Doctor stared at him, wondering what exactly he was trying to do.

Owen's finger slipped on the trigger. He hadn't meant to press the trigger, but now there was nothing to be done about it. His eyes widened, and his heart leapt into his throat.

The bullet was heading for the Doctor, who immediately looked to Rose. Rose, however, took the initiative and leapt in front of the Doctor. She may have a bone to pick with him, but she was still in love with him. She could never watch him die again. She couldn't watch him regenerate in front of her again. Not now after she was finally seeing him again.

A gasp was torn free from her lungs as the bullet collided with her chest, going in such a path that it hit one of her lungs and barely grazed her heart. A moment later, she was screaming, the pain in her chest flaring as she did so. She collapsed onto the ground, the blood spatter around her tinting her black clothes burgundy. Blood continued to well where the bullet had hit.

"Doctor!" she whispered, the urgency posed by her impending death apparent in her voice. She was dying, and while it meant she lost her chance of spending the rest of forever with the man she loved, she had died saving him. She only hoped he used that time well.

The Doctor fell to her side, his body hovering over hers, careful not to move it. His eyes, still red from his earlier tears, were filled again with tears, more than they had been previously. He didn't even both to prevent their flood down his face. The woman he loved was dying, and moving her to where she could be helped could cause further damage. "Rose," he rasped, his voice deeper than it usual.

"Doctor," Rose wheezed again, her eyes lachrymal even as they began to close one last time. "I- I forgive you. . ." Her voice grew weaker as it trailed off, only impressing how close she was to death. "And I . . .I love. . . ." Rose didn't get to finish her sentence, however, as death finally claimed her body.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, his tears dripping onto Rose's body. His hearts were breaking. Whatever sorrow he had felt earlier on the anniversary of his abandoning her was nothing compared to this. What sorrow he felt when he thought she was dead was nothing to what he felt at seeing her die right in front of him. "Stay alive, please! You have to!"

When Rose failed to respond or even give any signal that she heard, the Doctor checked her pulse. There was nothing. The Doctor scooped Rose into his arms, and her rocked her in his arms, his face red. Tears drenched his clothes and Rose. He kissed her softly, as if the old tales were true and she would wake from sleep. Finally, after a few more minutes, the Doctor acknowledged Owen's presence.

"How could you kill her? Well, no, don't answer that. Just give me your gun. Now!" the Doctor's voice was almost a shout, a guttural shout. His irises were black as pitch, and the whites of his eyes were reddened. He didn't care, though. He had lost what he cared about most. He had lost what meant more than the universe to him, and he couldn't stand it. He had lost what had given him hope, and now, he had none.

Hesitating, Owen handed his gun to the Doctor. He didn't know what the Doctor would do with it, and he was worried that he himself would be shot in an act of vengeance. When the Doctor took the gun into his hand, Owen realized what would happen, and he regretted handing over the gun instantly, even though there was already another available gun.

The Doctor held the gun to his head. Out loud, he muttered to himself, "Rose Tyler, you saved me and the world, and I love you. And now, I'm never going to leave you ever again." With that note, he pulled the trigger. He slumped forward, his arms still cradling Rose's body even as the regeneration energy welled in his hands. He fought it back, and seconds later, regeneration was no longer an option. The Doctor, the last Time Lord, at age nine-hundred let life slip away from his grasp. His eyes shut, and he got his wish. He was with Rose in the life after death.

Owen stared down at his hand that had pulled the trigger of the gun. It was only a moment before Jack, Martha, and the rest of Torchwood Three joined them. "We got the sound, and we played it back. Everything —" Tosh trailed off as she saw the two dead bodies and Owen standing there, looking at them. Even though he was accustomed to seeing dead bodies, particularly in his line of work, he wasn't used to seeing the body of one of his closest friends or watching someone commit suicide for the person he loved.

Tosh walked closer to Owen, while both Martha and Jack just glared at the man. "It would have been fine," Jack whispered, crouching down next to the corpses of two of his best friends. "Never was a story of more woe than that of the Doctor and his Rose." The edited quote from Romeo and Juliet had never seemed more fitting, Jack thought, and none of the others could have agreed with that premise more.

ϑϾ

Jack Harkness and Martha Jones watched in silence as the two bodies on the funeral pyre burned. The fire crackled as the bodies were slowly but surely turned to dust, one last goodbye the two brave souls who had died could give to their living friends.

Martha threw a bouquet onto the fire, tears running down her cheeks as she remember the friend she had lost. The flowers shriveled shortly after. Jack knelt next to the pyre. "Thank you, Doc, Rose. You've changed me for the better, and you gave me hope that I could make a difference, and I'll do my best to fill your shoes."

Jack and Martha, together, walked back to Torchwood where they were staying and where the TARDIS was parked. Hesitantly, Jack and Martha entered the TARDIS, and Jack found a copy of the TARDIS instruction manual translated into English.

They were not as alone as they thought they were, however. Sometime after their deaths, Rose and the Doctor had reunited in the afterlife, and the truths they said that ended them both were suddenly revealed to one another. And they were happy. The heart(s)break they had experienced in life had served only to make them stronger. And now, as they watched their friends, the Doctor and his Rose wished them well.


End file.
